All we need is a way so that the “coins” do not go to the one with the most computing power, or the one who got in first, but distributed equally among the population.
>but distributed equally among the population.
I am aware of no blockchain based technology that offers a solution to this problem. Central to the problem that blockchains are intended to solve is that there is no good way of identifying individuals. That is to say, there is nothing to stop me from opening a million accounts in the system and acting as if I was a million different people. The insight behind POW style blockchains is that it does not matter if I claim to be a million people, because that would not give me any more compute power, and so will not allow for an attack on the system.
If we could come up with a way of providing some sort of proof of individuality we would solve alot of problems.
I've been thinking about this in the past weeks because I find the energy consumption hard to justify.
Proof of individuality still would allow people of power to use an army of identity soldiers... but the same people can buy hash rate today, so that would not be a regression.
Which would point toward some form of Proof of (Human Free Will + Random Selection) being the "ideal" mining scheme (at least theoretically). And all other schemes, being practical attempts to approach that as much as possible.
How different is that from powerful people controlling or enslaving individuals to make money which they can then use to acquire control over the network?
I wonder how this would work. Let's assume there was a database of public keys for every citizen of the world, and every citizen knew their private key - how could we use that?
Could we assign the right to mine the next block according to some deterministic pseudo-random algorithm that selects the next public key from the previous one? I guess that could work, though it would reqire some timeout in case someone is not interested in mining.
The next question, how do we define some sort of public-private key pair in a way so a natural person can only create a single public key and can keep their private key secret?
Second, if you look, I think you'll find that Bitcoin shares a lot of attributes with Ponzi schemes; you could say that it's a Ponzi whose innovation is to be globally distributed on the Internet. Specifically:
* Returns to Bitcoin investors are funded by successive waves of future investors; Bitcoin's value will collapse without a steady supply of them.
* A significant part of the capitalization of Bitcoin is owned by "hodlers" who accumulate "paper" earnings that don't demand any real-world reckoning.
* It's structurally difficult to withdraw funds --- particularly large amounts of funds --- from the Bitcoin network; see, for instance, Tim Bray's experience.
* The whole phenomenon is backed by a core group that includes significant "early" or "founder" allocations.
Part of the problem with trying to pull apart "Ponzi schemes" and "bubbles" is that many (but not all) previous bubbles were fueled in part by a series of Ponzi schemes; for instance, during the first bubble, IPOs for companies that could not possibly have succeeded under any circumstances, or, during the housing bubble, AAA-rated securities for bundles of distressed mortgages.
Bitcoin's only real value is that of the chance of being adopted as currency. For it to become a currency people have to start buying bitcoins, as it is the only realistic way get hold of them. So the only way to make value for the current holders(older invenstors) is more people buying into it(revenue paid by new investors)
Anyone can do their own research and come to conclusions about the future valuation of Bitcoin.
Well if all the above are not enough for you to classify as a Ponzi scheme, not sure what to say. I have no further arguments.
* Outsized returns
* All the returns are funded by successive waves of investors
* Most "investors" hold, riding it out in the hopes of accumulating gains
* Easier to get into than out of, even if some eventually can
* Fraud
Bitcoins true value might be close to $500 once these hidden potential sellers emerge and transact. The current back and forth market activity does not illuminate the true supply and demand. In fact because the exchanges are unregulated, the market activity is highly manipulated. So even just thinking it's worth a lot because its going up, is falling for a Ponzi. The reason it's going up is precisely because of the greedy pouncers waiting in the grass. When they decide to act it will be equivalent to a bank run. Then we will see the true supply and demand curves. Until then, the charts are as if Madoff is supplying them...
Because you'd need to do that to replace the proof of work and assign coins to natural persons.
Bitcoin doesn't identify natural persons, it just knows public keys. There might be thousands of them belonging to the same entity.
Scams..? Most retailers don't do it.
Thanks.